The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-06-02

ernment, the state Will not undertake tn
supervision of the conduct of one hundre,
sober men in order to save one man VIII,
won't save himself. The dangers of cen
tralization were pointed out and centraliza
tion-paternalism is what is mean
by prohibition. The prohibitionists ar,
endea9oring to break the bonds of consti
tutional restriction. Every man is the
repository of the power of his own self
but this is denied by the prohibition
theory. The speaker next proceeded tC
pay his compliments to the Twentieth
legislature, which, he said, had gone
around pulling notes out of Other
mems eyes, when there were
large sized beans in theil
own The Savior suggested that theil
sort of people should do some missionary
work at home. The "blind tiger" was the
subject upon which the glorious Twentieth
WAS dashed, and the outrage of the law
was fully and clearly pres ented. This
! class of legislation but follows the idea
sought to be driven upon US by
the prohibitionists, an idea
which declares that majorities must rule
1t is true that majorities have the power
to govern, but they have no right to do sc
when by it am deprived OF my personal
rights. This is antagonistic to the very
essence of free government.
A comparison of statistics will show that
there is less drinking in the United
States than in any other country. Pro.
hibition has not brought about these fig
ures. In 1910 the consumption of liquor
per capita in this country was 2.52; in
1886, 1.24. In Great Britain in 1886 it
was 1.36, in Germany LA, and in France
1.24. OF wine and beer our people
drink II gallons where the
people of Great Britain drink 80, and
of Germany, SO. We are the most tenn
perate people on the globe The political
preachers say that $4,000 men fill drunk
ards graves annually. I say this is not
true. The political preachers are the men
who are stirring up all this mass of strife.
The Lord ordained that His ministers
should work to heal the sick, comfort
the afflicted and cast out devils;
but instead of following this
divine injunction, these political preachers
have been laboring to raise the devil and
cast out democratic congressman over
in my district.
We are threatened with the influence of
1000 of these political preachers. They
have thrown the gauntlet, and we down
pick it up, willing to meet them when and
where they please. When they
say that $4,000 drunkards die annually,
they say what is not true. There are not
10000, not 10000, not 10000, not 10000,
not 5000, nor even 1000. The census re-
port of 1880, the only correct data by
which to go, shows just 1892 deaths from
alcoholism. The Kansas parson, imported
to cry prohibition, was then taken up by
Col Mills and excoriated as only Mills
could do it. For religion,
and for the minister who sought
honestly to do Gods work, the
speaker professed the profoundest rever-
ence, but for the political preacher he
had no use.
THE next point touched upon and elab-
grated, was the question of revenue. The
loss to the state, and the necessity of its
being supplied in other ways, was fully
shown, and was made so clear that no one
could fail to recognize its importance.
After clear cut, forcible and
eloquent discourse of two hours,
Colonel Mills drew to a close
with ringing applause from his audience
to attest the interest and appreciation of
what he had said.
THE PRoHIBITIoNIsTs AT THE COURT HOUSE.
The district court room was filled to
o 7erfowing with the friends of prohibit
ton, last night, assembled to hear Col. j..
NJ. Anderson, of Waco, upon the issue of
the day. Every seat was occupied;
chairs had to be brought in to the lobbies,
and at times even standing room was at
premium, showing that Austin can turn
out great crowds upon both sides of the
question upon one and the same evening.
Col. Anderson was introduced by DIR.
Morris, chairman of the county prohi-
bition committee, land held his audience in
rapt attention for nearly two solid hours.
His effort was directed in the main
to consideration of the OBJ
isctions offered by the anti
prohibitionists to the adoption sof the
amendment to the Driskill pronuncio-
men5o and to the Dallas platform. These
were dissected by Colonel Anderson in a
very clever manner, his speech being
plentifully embellished with anecdote
and wit. The large audience showed
their appreciation of the speakers
efforts by responding literally with ap-
plause. Colonel Anderson is one of the
most fluent and entertaining speakers OF
the state, and his effort of last night added
to his already we'll earned reputation. The
prohibitionists were out in force, and ex'
press great satisfaction at the success OF
their meeting.